The use of the Internet has become widespread over the last decade, and an important use of the Internet is e-commerce. One way in which e-commerce is conducted is through the use of websites with web pages that contain information about products and services being offered for sale by a merchant. Such web pages may or may not provide a mechanism for a consumer to purchase the goods or services “online,” that is, via the website. Such websites may provide for such an ability by allowing a user of the website to select goods and services for inclusion in a virtual “shopping cart” and then providing a web page that includes text boxes or other mechanism that allow the user to specify billing and shipping information and provide a means for payment (e.g., a credit card number).
Whether or not a web page offers the opportunity to make purchases online, users of web pages often find themselves in situations in which human assistance is desirable. For example, a user may not be able to locate a desired product or service, on a website, or, even if they have located a product or service on the website, may need information about such a product or service that is not available on the website. A user may also encounter difficulty in navigating the website or in performing some action such as completing an on-line purchase. There are numerous other reasons why a user of a website may require assistance.
One method in which assistance may be rendered to a user of a website is through the provision of an icon which, when activated, will result in the establishment of a phone call or text chat with a customer service agent at a call center. The phone call can be a pure VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone call, a mixed VOIP-PSTN (public switched telephone network) call, or a pure PSTN call, which can be a “call back” call from a call center directly to a consumer or a “call back” call facilitated by a third party service provider in which the third party service provider places a first call to the user of the website at a number provided by the user and a second call to a call center and then bridges the first call to the second call. Another method in which communication between a user and a customer service agent may be established is through a text chat connection.
When a call or text chat connection is established between a user of a website and a customer service agent, it is desirable for the customer service agent to be able to view the web page being seen by the user so that the customer service agent can assist the user more easily. Doing this without using Java, or other plug-ins is preferable since customers don't have to download anything new, and they don't even have to be notified that they are cobrowsing.